Farmers' market

[strange_complex]

I spent lunch-time wandering around the farmers' market in Gloucester Green with dyddgu. We were beset by delicious smells on all sides, and satisfied our appetites by munching heartily on roast-pork-and-stuffing (or crackling) rolls. I bought:

• Two venison burgers
• Goats cheese with coriander and chive.
• Honey and mustard dressing
• Balsamic vinegar dressing
• Honey and ginger marinade

(The lady on the dressings and marinades stall was very friendly, and expert at tempting me into trying more and more of her delicious concoctions).

After dyddgu had dashed off to get back to her job in the History Faculty library, I wandered around a little more, taking in the antiques / craft part of the market, and then, all of a sudden on a 'Retro Design' stall, saw the telephone that I have been waiting for all my life. For years, you see, I've wanted a plain black dial phone, just like my parents had until only about 10 years ago. They're the ones everyone had in the 60s and 70s, which looked like this, and I now know are technically referred to as the '700 series'. Until recently, though, I haven't been able to justify the expense for something which is really just a fashion statement. So it had remained a pipe dream, and I'd got along perfectly happily with my £9.99 silver touch-tone phone.

The phone I saw today, though, brought my long-thwarted desire flooding back ten-fold. This phone wasn't just the design I liked - it was also sitting there in two-tone bright purple and black! I hadn't even known such phones existed. Which is lucky, because I'm not sure I could have survived this long without owning one. However, it was £65, and besides not having that kind of cash on me, it also occurred to me on the basis of previous experience of the Gloucester Green antiques market that I might well be able to get it cheaper on Ebay. I came home, did a quick search, and guess what? I could. And the thoughtful sellers have even offered a complete explanation of how it is that such phones ever came to be.

Much happiness now ensues. And I return to preparing tomorrow's lectures.

Comments

[aellia.livejournal.com]

I love this entry!
I haven't been out today,but feel like I have,now.
I looked at the phone and saw the auction had ended..but then I saw who ended it!
Well done and it's gorgeous

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks - I'm glad you enjoyed it so much!

Oh yes, that telephone is mine-all-mine! I can't wait until it arrives. :)

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

My parents still have one of those in their bedroom. I, meanwhile, am very chuffed with my grandma's 600 series (http://www.livejournal.com/users/huskyteer/175929.html).

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes - that is definitely a very classy phone!

And hoorah for your parents. I was pretty impressed by the way mine had persisted with theirs until the mid-90s. But once my Dad decided it was time to modernise, he chucked out all three of their 700 series phones, which I felt was a bit OTT. They did still have the old-style plugs on them though, to be fair, which, since he got the telephone sockets in the house modernised at the same time, meant he would have had to adapt them to continue using them.

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

My parents just can't be bothered, I'm afraid. They complained for years that the kitchen phone wasn't working; eventually I bought them a £9.99 one for Christmas.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Well, what kind of sockets do they have then? I thought the 700 series ones had all had the old-style ones, which were like a prong, rather than the new ones with copper wires in grooves and a clip which holds them into the wall? So how have they got both functioning simultaneously in the same house if their approach has basically been to sit back and try to ignore modern technology?

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Good question. I think my dad rewired the kitchen and dining-room sockets back in the day but the bedroom just got left. (He alternates between frenzied DIY action and leaving things to rot for decades.)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ah, right - I thought it had to be an all-encompassing operation, but I suppose there's no real reason why, if you still have phones that work in the old sockets.

[kantti.livejournal.com]

Ooh, what a wonderful phone. I've always coveted the old black ones, but in the end practicality won and I've got a digital text-messaging address-booking kitchen-sinking cordless one.

Perhaps I should put an extension line in somewhere, though.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm certainly keeping the old touch-tone one, as it's impossible to deal with most large companies over the phone these days without something their menu systems will respond to. I've had to do some extending anyway, so that my broadband connection reaches my computer, and that means I can plug the old phone into the extension cable for when I need it, while having the new one as my main phone.

('Old' and 'new' in this comment obviously meaning old and new to me, rather than in the literal chronological sense. Although then again, is the purple and black one I've just bought really 'old', given that it's obviously been put together fairly recently out of old bits? Cue Archimedes' ship debate and much confusion...)

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember we had one of those phones when I was a child. They are rather nice aren't they? Though I think what I'd really like to have would be Dali's phone design, where the mouth and earpiece was made up of a lobster...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Hee-hee - wouldn't you be afraid that it might suddenly snap your ear off while you were talking? :)

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

What are you doing commenting on a weekday, hmm? Have you pulled a sickie?

[ex-kharin447.livejournal.com]

I tend to check my flist page once or twice a day at work but not logged in. So locked journals have to be checked later. Especially yours, given that it would probably cause the company's obscenity checking software to have the electronic equivalent of a epilectic fit...

[davesangel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, such a cool phone!

And venison burgers are rather nice indeed, I tried one at Glastonbury 03, and was pleasantly surprised :)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ooh, such a cool icon! Everyone needs a phone icon, I think. :)

I certainly know I like venison, so I think these burgers should be pretty good. I've had to freeze them for the mo, though, as I have too much other food that needs eating up first.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

Mmm Venison. You should come and stay at mine one weekend and we can go to the Venison stall at Borough Market.

I need a phone icon too.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I have heard many wonderful things about Borough Market. I don't know when I'll next be free, but in principle - yes! We could shops for delicious goodies in the day, and then cook a delicious meal for friends in the evening. *licks lips*

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

(And I'd like to apologise for the superfluous 's' on the word 'shop' in that comment, and the fact that I unthinkingly used the word 'delicious' twice in quick succession. I am not having a good typing day today...)

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Disappointingly, there were no venison burgers this week at Newbury Farmers' Market, though I've had them from there before and they were very good. I made do with lamb and mint burgers instead.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Lamb and mint sounds pretty decent, though.

Any particular tips on good garnishes / sauces to go with the venison ones?

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

The ones I had were quite strongly seasoned/spiced anyway, so I think we had them neat. I think Cumberland sauce would be a possibility, or maybe even something like mango chutney would work.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes - I hear you about the mango chutney. Roast venison certainly tends to go really well with fruit-based sauces, such as an apricot sauce I had it with once. So I'm sure this would apply to the burgers, too.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Turns out that Tesco's 'Finest' range includes some rather splendid chutneys. I now have one pot of Redcurrant, Rosemary and Balsamic, and one of Mango, Apricot and Coriander. So I think my burgers will be very well-dressed in the end. (They're currently in the freezer, in case you were worried about how come I was still dithering over how to eat them).

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Fantastic!

[bloodnok.livejournal.com]

The best Bambi burger I've ever had the pleasure of filling up on was at The Kingshouse Hotel, on the West Highland Way just on the entrance to Glen Etive. Admittedly, we had just walked 13 miles without stop to get there, but the chalkboard description of "King Venison Burger" for a mere £7 did no justice to the wonder of lean burger, hunk of Scottish cheddar and generous portion of bacon carefully arranged in a bun the size of a housebrick. Amazing how a humble burger can leave one feeling as if one has feasted like a king! Even more impressive when one sees the live article running around wild. It fuelled us for the next 11 miles up The Devil's Staircase and into Kinlochleven, and then some.

Ach, now I feel hungry... ;~)

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Crumbs, you walked 24 miles in one day??? No wonder you needed a serious protein feast in the middle of it! Consider me suitably impressed!

[bloodnok.livejournal.com]

We actually walked 100 miles in 5 days ;~)